WVU Neighborhoods Compared: Sunnyside vs Downtown vs Evansdale

The right WVU neighborhood depends on which campus your classes are on. Sunnyside, the student strip between University Avenue and the Monongahela River, has 9 of the 42 places on Find My Place's WVU page, and seven of them start under $700 a month. Downtown puts you 3 to 13 minutes on foot from the Mountainlair with similar starting prices. Evansdale is the quiet pick for engineering and Health Sciences students, but FMP lists only three places there.

WVU's campuses sit miles apart, so a "close to campus" listing can be close to the wrong one. Prices below come from FMP's live list of off-campus housing near WVU, checked in September 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Sunnyside is the social pick. Nine FMP places, 9 to 17 minutes on foot from the Mountainlair, most starting between $540 and $695.
• Want the shortest walk to class? Downtown. 659 Spruce St is about 3 minutes from the Mountainlair.
• Evansdale has the best walk to Engineering and Health Sciences, and only three FMP listings.
• The lowest starting prices sit elsewhere: 984 Willey St in Woodburn ($415) and West Run out on Koehler Drive ($425 a bed).
• Freshmen can skip this whole decision (WVU makes first-year students live in the residence halls).

The FMP Class-Map Rule: Pick the Campus Before the Neighborhood

We call it the FMP Class-Map Rule: before you compare rents, circle the building where you'll spend most of your week. Then pick the neighborhood with the shortest walk to it.

The Downtown campus holds the Mountainlair, Woodburn Hall and a lot of Eberly College classes, and the Chambers College of Business moved into Reynolds Hall on the riverfront in August 2022, per WVU Today. Evansdale, about 1.3 miles northwest as the crow flies, has engineering, agriculture, the Creative Arts Center, the College of Law, the Towers dorms and the Coliseum. Medicine, nursing, pharmacy and dentistry are at the Health Sciences Center next door.

How far apart is that? We ran every listing through OpenStreetMap walking routes, and 125 Pleasant St downtown is a 53-minute walk from the Engineering Sciences Building. The PRT closes that gap (free with your WVU ID). It doesn't run Sundays.

Neighborhood	Places on FMP	Starting prices	Walk to Mountainlair	Walk to Engineering Sciences
Sunnyside	9	$540 to $1,420 (7 of 9 under $700)	9 to 17 min	29 to 37 min
Downtown	8	$450 to $1,350 (7 of 8 under $700)	3 to 13 min	47 to 53 min
Evansdale	3	$499 to $950	33 to 34 min	16 to 36 min
Farther out (shuttle complexes, Suncrest, Town Centre)	9	$425 to $1,500	56 min or more	39 min or more

Starting prices are the "from" figures on each listing. Some are per bed, some per unit. The other 13 places are in South Park, Woodburn, Wiles Hill and on Stewart Street. We grouped by address and walking route, not official boundaries.

Sunnyside: The Classic WVU Student Neighborhood

Sunnyside is where WVU's social life lives. It's a 130-acre hillside that runs from University Avenue down to the river, according to Clio's history of Sunnyside. Glass-factory workers built it in the 1890s. By 1960, students had taken over.

It's tamer than its rowdy-party peak. Since 2002 a city-and-WVU nonprofit called Sunnyside Up has pushed redevelopment, and University Place alone replaced about 30 old houses. Now you get old frame houses split five ways next to newer mid-rises.

What Sunnyside housing costs on FMP

Big houses are the cheap end. 612 McLane Avenue has five- and six-bedroom plans that list from $540. On Beechurst Avenue, Beech Front Apartments starts at $675 and is the closest Sunnyside listing to the Mountainlair, about 9 minutes. The Delta on 3rd Street lists from $635.

Newer buildings cost more. State on Campus at 331 Beechurst Ave starts at $959. The Glenlock on University Avenue lists a two-bedroom at $1,420. Up at the north end, Metro Towers (from $650) and Apartments on Grant ($600) are about a 30-minute walk to Engineering. That's as close as Sunnyside gets.

Who Sunnyside suits

Sophomores who want to be where the parties are. Business students headed to Reynolds Hall. Anyone splitting time between campuses, since Beechurst PRT station is at Sunnyside's south end. Light sleepers? Keep looking.

Downtown Morgantown: Shortest Walk to Class and High Street

Downtown wins on walking time, full stop. Every FMP listing we grouped here, from High Street east to Forest Avenue, Baird Street and Locust Avenue, is 13 minutes or less from the Mountainlair. High Street's bars are just as close. So are the hills.

The housing stock is mostly older: converted houses and small buildings, not amenity complexes. 659 Spruce St, a five-bedroom that lists from $590, is roughly 3 minutes from the Mountainlair. Courtyard West on Willey Street has two-bedrooms from $525. Central Place on Baird Street starts at $625 for a two-bed, two-bath.

Watch the fine print on houses. 413 Forest Ave lists a six-bedroom from $450. Ask whether that's per room before you get excited, and ask who pays utilities. FMP's WVU page says older houses often leave all of them to you, at roughly $50 to $120 a month on top of rent.

Downtown fits Eberly majors and anyone who hates buses. Bringing a car? Downtown parking is Morgantown's real headache.

Evansdale: Quiet, Close to Engineering and Health Sciences, Hard to Find

Evansdale is right for engineering, agriculture, law and health sciences students, and the hardest to actually rent in. The campus dates to 1951, when the state put its medical center there. SAH Archipedia calls it "a sprawling, automobile-centered expanse." You trade High Street for parking lots.

FMP lists three places here. Pierpont Place on Oakland Street is the standout: it lists from $499, about 10 minutes on foot from the Health Sciences Center and 16 from the Engineering Sciences Building. Ashley Oaks, off Don Nehlen Drive, lists a two-bedroom at $950, about 12 minutes from the Health Sciences Center. Valley View Woods rounds it out ($895, one bedroom).

The shuttle complexes past Evansdale

Most Evansdale-side students end up farther out, in shuttle complexes with some of the lowest per-bed rents on FMP's WVU page. You pay in commute instead.

West Run on Koehler Drive lists a 4x4 at $425, a 3x3 at $475 and a 2x2 at $675 (rent falls as bedrooms rise, so those are per bed). Northside Hills follows the same curve from $499. Mountain Valley ($465) and The Lofts ($587) list per person. Even the closest, Northside Hills, is a 32-minute walk to the Health Sciences Center.

What About South Park, Woodburn and Wiles Hill?

South Park, Woodburn and Wiles Hill get skipped in most Sunnyside vs Downtown debates, yet they hold 12 of the 42 places on FMP's WVU page. Mostly older houses, a bit calmer than Sunnyside, all on hills.

• South Park, across Deckers Creek: leafy, 16 to 22 minutes to the Mountainlair. 232 Cobun Avenue is a five-bedroom from $575. Perilli Apartments on Kingwood Street has one-bedrooms at $725.
• Woodburn and the College Avenue blocks east of downtown have the lowest starting price on the whole WVU page, 984 Willey St at $415 for a three-bedroom. 755 Wells Street lists a four-bedroom at $525, about 10 minutes from the Mountainlair.
• Wiles Hill (up Highland Avenue, above Sunnyside): 190-192 Highland Ave labels its $650 plans as per-bed pricing.

One more: Mountaineer Place on Stewart Street, just across University Avenue from Sunnyside, is about 7 minutes from the Mountainlair. Its 4x4 lists at $784, 3x3 at $883 and 2x2 at $974, which only works as per-bed pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions About WVU Neighborhoods

Which WVU neighborhood should a freshman pick?

None, yet. WVU requires single first-year students, and transfers with fewer than 24 credits, to live in the residence halls, per the WVU residence hall FAQ. Start this search in the fall of your freshman year for the following August.

Is Sunnyside still the party neighborhood?

Mostly, yes. Redevelopment has swapped many old houses for new buildings, but FMP's WVU page still calls Sunnyside loud and party-heavy. Want the location with less of that? Try the Wiles Hill houses just uphill, which that same page calls quieter but still close.

What's the cheapest neighborhood near WVU?

$415. That's 984 Willey St in Woodburn, the lowest starting price on FMP's WVU page. For shared or by-the-bed rooms, the same page puts the usual range at $450 to $750 a month per person, with old Sunnyside and South Park houses at the bottom. Morgantown as a whole ranked third on our list of cheapest cities for student housing.

Should engineering students live in Sunnyside or Evansdale?

Evansdale, if you can find a spot. Pierpont Place is a 16-minute walk to the Engineering Sciences Building. From Sunnyside it's about 29 minutes on foot at best. Living near Beechurst station and riding the PRT is faster, except on Sundays.